How “Succession” Captured the Trump-Era Hangover
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
The New Yorker
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 31 May 2023
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On Sunday, after four seasons, the HBO series “Succession” came to a close. More than good TV, it was an artifact of Donald Trump’s Presidency, and of the lingering feelings that have extended into the Biden era. Within the structure of a family drama, the show satirized corporate power, skewered the ultra-wealthy, and critiqued the media. And, notably, it successfully fictionalized Trump—or perhaps it imagined a kind of candidate who could ascend in a world in which Trump’s views had become more widely accepted. Following the finale, Naomi Fry joined Tyler Foggatt to discuss what made the series such an effective rendering of the current political climate.
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| 1:12.6 | You're listening to The Political Scene. I'm Tyler Foggett, and I'm a senior editor |
| 1:16.6 | at The New Yorker. This past weekend, one of the stories I got to edit came from my |
| 1:21.6 | colleague Nomi Frye about the finale of the HBO series Succession. |
| 1:26.5 | Nomi and I were fascinated by how the show managed to tie up nearly all of its loose ends, |
| 1:30.7 | except for what presumably would have been the biggest one, the fate of the nation. |
| 1:35.0 | The final season of Succession sees the Roy family try to propel a conservative politician to the presidency. |
| 1:41.0 | But at the end of this series, that election remains unresolved. |
| 1:45.0 | The characters don't really care who wins, and so neither does this show. |
| 1:49.1 | Nomi sat down with me in the studio to say goodbye to succession and to discuss how the show deals |
| 1:53.5 | or doesn't deal with politics. |
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